Isandlwana — The Day the Sun Went Dark

On January 22, 1879, during a solar eclipse that turned the afternoon dark, a Zulu army of 20,000 warriors destroyed a British force of 1,800 soldiers armed with rifles and artillery. It remains the worst defeat the British Army suffered in the colonial era. The Zulu impondo zankomo — bull horn formation — encircled the British camp so completely that barely fifty men escaped. The Zulus were armed primarily with spears. The lesson the British took was to never underestimate an African army again. The lesson the world took was that courage and strategy can defeat technology. At least once.

These signs carry the sphinx hill of Isandlwana, the eclipse sky, the advancing impis, and the day that changed the history of empire.